Johnny's Movie Page: Review of Wo hu zang long (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

Review of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
by Johnny Erickson

Words fail to encapsulate Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. If we had a single word for the sound of a sheet drying on a windy day, the cry of a cello, and the trickle of a brook, then, perhaps, we could adequately express the beauty. Grace, majesty, and elegance are but blurry mutterings of the true magnificence of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. To call this movie "outstanding" would be to degrade it. Like the taste of salt, this movie cannot be described; it can only be experienced. In fact, I use the term "movie" when clearly Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has elevated itself beyond the mediocre filth that pollutes American Cinema. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has reached that state which few movies do; it can only be described as a "film."

I hesitate to analyze this film. I have caught a fairy in the darkness and am afraid to glance at it for fear the slight act will dash my wonderful dream to pieces. (Johnny does not wish to share his toys with the other children.) However, this is a movie review and, as I can't spend five pages discussing the inadequacy of words, I must continue.

In a subtitled film, the audience must rely heavily on actors' facial expression and tone of voice. All of the performers in this film display rare and powerful subtlety in their actions. Feeling of love, anger, betrayal, coyness, misunderstanding, and longing are all expressed with the eyes. I was particular enchanted with Michelle Yeoh, who plays the female warrior Shu Lien. When Li Mu Bai tells her that he has come not because someone stole the Green Destiny but to see here, she lifts her eyes up, slowly, timidly. In this slight movement (movement seems like too big a word here), she convey a coy hopefulness and longing, but never says a word. I don't think I have ever seen anyone make such small changes in their face and express such deep emotion. I seriously doubt that the written word could ever capture this movement. While the other actors share this ability, Michelle Yeoh is the most outstanding. Why she didn't receive an Oscar nomination is beyond me.

ChowYun-Fat, in the role of the aging warrior Li Mu Bai, offers a character that is both powerful and restrained. He has perfectly captured wisdom. Like Michelle Yeoh, his actions are subtle and yet strong. He is normally a very calm and unassuming character, but, when he has to fight, he comes alive with power and grace.

Zhang Zi Li, in only her second role, nails the part of Jiao Long Ye (Jen) a teenager torn between two good and evil. In the beginning of the movie, there are a few times when her inexperience comes across, but she quickly grows into the role and become the quintessential rebellious teen. To show the stubbornness of her character, Zhang Zi Li has a great way of rolling her jaw and making her lips disappear when she is anger. In this state, she can spit an angry line that is as lethal as any kicks. Like Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhan is a former dancer and like Michelle Yeoh, her agility on the screen is amazing. In the most demanding role in the film, she made the fight scenes dazzling.

Chang Chen plays Jen's love-interest Xiao Hu Luo (Lo). Chang Chen brings a sense of comedy and cavilerness to the role of Lo. He has a Cary Grant, Harrison Ford charm.

Beside Michelle Yeoh's, the performance I liked best was Cheng Pei Pei as Jen's diabolical mentor Jade Fox. She only has a supporting role and does not receive much screen time, but when she is on screen, her performance is fantastic. While ferocious in the fight scenes, she plays the quieter moments with Jen as a confused and hurt mother who cannot understand why the choice between her way of life and that of Li Mu Bai is so difficult.

Great actors are nothing without strong roles. Fortunately, all of the parts in this film are strong. Every character, even the minor ones like the police inspector and his daughter, has a reason for being and motives behind his or her actions. Additionally, the characters' behaviors and personalities result from their backgrounds and are not just predefined constants that the audience must accept. Li Mu Bai and Shu Lien are not shy; their love is reluctant out of respect for Li Mu Bai's dead friend. Jade Fox is not just paranoid; her past experiences with prejudice justifies her fear. Jen is not just a bitchy teenager; her anger stems from internal and external conflicts. This is very rare in a film. (For contrast, let us think back a couple of movie reviews to Sweet November. In that movie, there was no reason for Sara to be a free-sprit; she just was. There was no motive behind Nelson's assitude; it just was.)

The filmmakers have rightly given their central character, Jen, the most history and depth. In any other movie, Jen would be just a stereotypical rebellious teenager with a classic case of rage-against-your-parents-so-you-can-leave-the-nest syndrome. Fortunately for the audience, our Jen has a much greater conflict than the need to be independent. At the crossroads of four paths, Jen must decide which direction her life will take. Should she follow Jade Fox and become a murderer? Should she follow her parents and marry Gou? Should she follow her dream and study Wudan with Li Mu Bai? Should she follow her heart and live in the desert with Lo? Like most of us, Jen puts off dealing with her problem until someone else makes the decision for her. In this case, Jen waits to act until after she is married. On her wedding night, Jen realizes she as made a mistake. She decides that, with the help of the Green Destiny, she can make it on her own and runs away. She soon discovers that the lone warrior lifestyle is just that, lonely - not to mention expensive and dangerous. Afraid to return home and on the pretence of needing cloths, Jen seeks out Shu Lien.

Shu Lien brings Jen face to face with her problems by mentioning Lo is waiting for her on Wudan Mountain. Suddenly, (to borrow a line for Doris Day) her secret love is no secret anymore. She has been found out. Instead of seeing Shu Lien's actions in the spirit of friendship with which they were intended, Jen senses betrayal, an instinct no doubt instilled in her by Jade Fox. This betrayal, along with the frustration over her other problems, angers Jen. With the inexperienced rashness, Jen decides that Shu Lien is an enemy. A fight ensues and culminates in Jen's defeat. Frustrated at being beaten, Jen again acts rashly and slices Shu Lien's arm when asked to return the Green Destiny. Li Mu Bai comes to Shu Lien's side and gives Jen a look that any child who has disappointed their parent immediately recognizes. Jen, realizing her mistakes, tries to justify her actions and then, seeing Li Mu Bai is not buying it, flees.

Li Mu Bai follows her and they fight in the treetops. This fight ends on the bank of a river. Jen has again been defeated and again must make a choice. She agrees to return with Li Mu Bai, but only if he can take the Green Destiny away from her in three moves. Li Mu Bai takes away the sword with one movement, hinting that he is hiding his true skill in order to play the role of a teacher. This infuriates Jen and she demands the sword back. Li Mu Bai throws it in the river and tells her she cannot handle the sword because she has not learned restraint. Consistent with her nature, Jen jumps in after the sword and nearly drowns. Enter Jade Fox.

Jade Fox whisks Jen away to some ruins, drugs her, and uses her as bait to capture Li Mu Bai. Li Mu Bai finds Jen in this drugged state and wakes her up. She asks him what he wants the sword or her body. Rather than answer, Li Mu Bai sits her down warms the drugs out of her by placing his hands on her back. It is then that Jen realizes her mistake. Li Mu Bai is not trying to corrupt her or catch her; he is trying to save her. Jen comes to a full understanding of just how wrong she is, after Jade Fox tells Jen that the poison darts were intended for her. Attempting to amend her actions, Jen goes to Shu Lien's headquarters and makes the antidote to the poisoned darts. However, she returns too late for Li Mu Bai. Shu Lien, realizing her own mistake, tells Jen to go to Lo on Wudan Mountain and follow her heart.

At Wudan Mountain, Jen reunites with Lo. Here she realizes that, though she is with Lo, she is not happy. She remembers the story that Lo told her about the boy who jumped from the mountain to save his parents. In an attempt to find her happiness, Jen wishes that she were back in the desert with Lo and jumps from the mountain. This is not a suicide. Jen sees it as a way to find happiness not as a way to end despair. In the end, she will end up in the same place that the boy who jumped from the mountain ended up and this place is not death.

Another character who realized her mistake at the end of the film is Shu Lien. Shu Lien actually makes two mistakes. She makes a mistake when she tells Jen to proceed with her marriage. She realizes her mistake when she and Li Mu Bai capture Lo and discover that the two are in love. Attempting to rectify her mistake, Shu Lien sends Lo to Wudan Mountain to wait for Jen. Later, she tells Jen that her parents will understand if she wants to marry Lo. She tells Jen to go to Wudan Mountain and work things out. If Jen had listened, the problem would have been solved.

Shu Lien's other mistake was to let her love for Li Mu Bai go unexpressed. Shu Lien and Li Mu Bai formed a tight friendship after the death of Shu Lien's fiancée. This friendship grew into love (real love, not the lust-love-star-crossed-lovers crap that passes for love in Sweet November). Their relationship is so deep that they seem like two parts of the same person. They know what each other is thinking. They have a mutual understanding and respect for each other. They show genuine compassion and caring for each other. They have all of this and without any type of a physical relationship. Li Mu Bai has never even held Shu Lien's hand. They have found true love. There is great honor in their restraint, but there is also great stupidity. At some point in their relationship, Shu Lien must have realized that her love for Li Mu Bai was greater than her love for her fiancée could ever be. It is then that she should have acted on her feelings. Instead, to paraphrase Sir Te, they wasted precious time. In the end, they had only a few moments, less than a minute, to share a kiss.

Li Mu Bai has his problems as well. There is something inside of him that is causing great sorrow and preventing him from finding enlightenment. Is his sorrow caused by his inability to bring his master's assassin to justice? Is his sorrow caused because he has not found an heir to whom he can teach the way of Wudan? Is the sorrow caused because he is a warrior and has killed many men? Is there something else? Li Mu Bai's challenge is to find the cause of his sorrow. Thinking that the men he killed cause his grief, Li Mu Bai gives up his sword and his warrior ways. When he gives up the Green Destiny, he decides that his master's death will have to go unavenged. Ironically, by giving up the sword Li Mu Bai indirectly draws Jade Fox and finds an heir apparent for his Wudan methods. It seems that fate is providing him a way to satisfy his sorrows. Or is it?

Li Mu Bai patiently pursues both Jen and Jade Fox. In the end, he kills Jade Fox and, had he lived, Jen would have become his disciple. However, I think he was still unable to find peace. As he meditates to slow the poison, he realizes the true cause of his sorrow is his unexpressed love for Shu Lien. He uses his last breath to tell Shu Lien that he loves her and thereby frees his soul.

Jade Fox is the opposite, the antithesis, of Li Mu Bai. Where Li Mu Bai is typically calm, Jade Fox always has an undercurrent of anger. Prejudice and mistrust have shaped Jade Fox. In a world ruled by men, she feels that she deserves more and so she must steal it. Jade Fox is cunning but unwise. She steals the Wudan manual, but cannot interpret its true meaning. She secretly teaches Jen martial arts, but does not detect her deceit. The one person that Jade Fox trusts is Jen. She has acted as a mother, or at least a matron, to Jen since she was eight. It is with a sense of betrayal that Jade Fox notices Jen growing apart from her. Jen is becoming a governor's daughter and, while Jade Fox respects this, she does not accept it. When Jen asks her to leave a room, Jade Fox does so, but only with a quite resentment. In her mind, Jen's betrayal is complete, when she realizes that Jen's skills have surpassed her own. Throughout the film, Jade Fox seeks revenge for actions she perceives as unjust. She treats Jen's deceit no differently. In the final scene, we learn that Jade Fox was not trying to save Jen from drowning, but was instead using her as bait to lure Li Mu Bai. Her intent was to kill both Jen and Li Mu Bai. She is vindictive to the end, but, like the other characters, there is depth-adding reason behind her vindictiveness.

The actors in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon are but a few of the tools that director Ang Lee uses to tell his love story. The sound, music, special effects, martial arts, and locations all contribute to weaving this magical tale.

I only own three music CDs. The first is a promotional disk from WordPerfect featuring a compilation of Kurt Bestor and, no, I never listen to it. The second is the soundtrack to the TV-movie, The 10^th Kingdom. The only reason I have it is that in order to buy the movie, I had a complete package which included the movie, the CD, and the book. Like the K. Bestor CD, I have only listened to this one once. The third CD I actually chose to buy. It is the soundtrack from Rocky. I listen to it when I need to be psyched up or when I want to annoy my sister. In general, I am not a music fan. I much prefer to listen to news or talk radio. However, I have ordered the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon CD. This is the best soundtrack that I have heard in a long time. The music, written by Tan Dun and with cello solos by Yo Yo Ma, is simply enchanting. From the frenzy of drums in the fight scenes to the touching and quite cello theme that plays sadly throughout the movie, the music perfectly punctuates the film. I love this music.

Aside from the music, the other sounds in this movie are great as well. I especially enjoyed listening to the movie when the music cut out. For example, when Jen initially steals the sword. She jumps down from a rooftop and crawls through a window and all we hear is the sound of ruffled cloth and the tap as the window gently closes. When she wraps the sword there is another slight ruffle (if a person can have a favorite sound in a movie, then in this movie this is mine) and then she ties the sword around her back. Sound wise, this is such an excellent scene. The folley artist must have been working overtime.

The locations for this movie where awe-inspiring. The treetop scene is one of the most beautiful scenes ever filmed. The desert, the waterfalls, and the mountains are all so beautiful that it is almost hard to believe they really exist. My favorite picture in the entire movie is when the wheels of a cart role through the deep grooves worn into the road. From this one picture, we not only get a sense of how old the city is, but also a sense of its timelessness. The only problem I had with this movie was that I could not say in what time it took place. However, I think that was the point. This story is timeless (in fact, we have seen a similar story before; George Lucas based much of Star Wars on Asian stories) and should be set in unaging surroundings, the mountains and deserts for example.

Finally, it is time to discuss the fight sequences. Wow! These are simply the best martial arts sequences ever filmed. The movie is surprisingly lacking in gore to boot. You can count the scenes with blood on one hand. As a kid, I watched something that I think was called Chinese Theatre. It came on every once in a while and contained ridiculously graphic violence. In one scene, I remember the fighter shooting their teeth at each other - very weird. From what I've gathered, excessive gore is the norm for Chinese martial arts movies. I am glad Ang Lee decided to buck the trend. He proves that you can have a fight scene without blood.

As mentioned before, both Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Zi Li are experienced dancers and their talents certainly show in this film. The speed with which they move is almost incomprehensible.

I loved the way that this film treated the characters' ability to fly as a reality. In fact, they incorporated it into the fighting, as shown during the first fight when Shun Lien keeps forcing Jen back to earth. This is perfect.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is the best film of the year and should win the Oscar for Best Picture. I am frankly surprised that none of the actors were nominated for Oscars. This is a movie with such strong female roles that I thought it would surely get something.

A film that must be experienced, there are no words to adequately describe the beauty of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I am in awe of this film. I have seen it four times already. I am definitely going to see it again.

Interesting Facts (at least I find them interesting)

• There are Internet rumors that a prequel is in the works.
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is based on a series of books by Wang Du Lu. (Good Luck finding them anywhere)
• The Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Web site is very well done and contains many behind-the-scenes clips and information.
• In Chinese, Jiao Long Yu (Jen) means little dragon and Xiao Hu Luo (Lo) means little tiger.
• In Chinese, Gou, Jen's husband, means either adequate or dog.
• In Chinese, Li Mu Bai's name is means something along the line of Wise Teacher.